Shredded Wheat Pancakes

Confession: I didn’t set a single limb outside today.

Call me lame, I call it warm.

Unfortunately, tomorrow is supposed to be the worst of the days, and I have to go outside tomorrow. Work, schmerk.

What did I do to pass my time?  Well, before going on a cleaning rampage and getting stuff printed out and organized for my classes that start this week, I made pancakes.

You’re all really shocked right now, huh?

At least they were a little different than usual. You see – after a bedtime snack of Kashi Autumn Wheat, I discovered I had a whole lot of shredded…crumbs.

I wasn’t about to throw them out, but the texture weirds me out to just have them all in a bowl with milk.

And so it found its way into pancakes. Truthfully, I struggle to call them pancakes as they’re really not like a normal pancake at all. They’re very moist and almost oatmeal-like in the middle. This could have something to do with the fact that I kept wanting to add more liquid, but unfortunately the next time I can try them won’t be until my next box of shredded wheat is finished.

This doesn’t mean they were bad – not at all! Just a disclaimer for those who are thinking it’s a light, fluffy pancake. And honestly – I don’t think there’s a better way to use up the last of that cereal at the bottom of the bag!

Shredded Wheat Pancakes

• 1/4 c. shredded wheat crumbles (I used Kashi)
• 2 t. chia seeds
• 1/4 c. freshly brewed coffee (still hot) (see note)
• 3 T. white whole wheat flour
• 1 T. wheat germ
• 1 t. baking powder
• 1 t. ground cinnamon
• 3 T. almond milk
• 1/4 c. fresh or frozen blueberries
• maple syrup and almond butter, for topping
• earth balance or butter, for greasing pan

Combine the shredded wheat and chia seeds in a bowl and then stir in the hot coffee. Set aside for 2 minutes or so – sip some coffee, preheat your pan, that sorta thing.

Once it’s thickened a bit, add in the dry ingredients and stir. Add in the milk and stir to combine. Fold in the blueberries. The batter will be thick – don’t add more! You’ll wind up with pansoup, not pancakes. …not that I would know or anything…

Grease the pan and spoon the batter onto the preheated pan. Fry about 4-5 m. on each side, or until golden. The insides will still be moist and dense – that’s as cooked as you’re going to get, though!

Serve drizzle with maple syrup and almond butter “sauce,” and a grilled banana, of course 😉

Note: You could probably also use hot water or almond milk if you don’t happen to have a hot pot of coffee. The coffee flavor isn’t that noticeable, having something hot is more the point.

All the more incentive to accidentally smush your shredded wheat cereal boxes on the drive home. Or not hate on the bag-boys that decide to throw ten pounds of sweet potatoes and bananas on top of them.

I couldn’t make up my mind re: flash vs. natural light. I was finding the natural light to be a bit too harsh. But was happy to have it – I hate waking up and being in the dark all morning on days I have to work!

Mmm…the best part of a sweet potato. It’s like a burnt marshmallow. For some reason, my mom doesn’t embrace the smell of the sap burning at the bottom of the oven as much as I do…

I mentioned cleaning rampage, yes? Well, I took care of the kitchen. You guys are right. I have a flour problem. And a grain problem. It’s a good thing I bake a lot…and I think there will be lots of bread-baking in my future! I need something that will use at least 3+ cups of flour, after all.

That or I can just think up some pranks. My sister does use her hair dryer often…

Anyways. As a flour and grain addict, I have too many grains that get neglected. Well, actually I don’t – I just have barley that gets neglected. So I might as well use it, right? I was surprised to find out I actually like barley, while I was under the impression that I didn’t care for it.

Beets, however? Well, I don’t think I’m their biggest fan after all. I mentioned last time that I warmed up to them…but I think it’s “baked until crispy” or nothing when it comes to me and beets. I wasn’t too fond of these. I followed a recipe for roasting them (and some carrots) in a balsamic and thyme sort of…glaze? But it was nothing really to write home about, I guess.

…at least the barley was good. The veg was just “mreh.”

So – cereal! What’s your favorite kind? Ever used it for something other than, well, a bowl of cereal?!

Pesto-Barley Primavera

Pesto-Barley Primavera

serves: 2-3 as a main, 4-6 as a side

Prepare the Barley:

• 1/2 c. natural pearled barley
• 1 1/2 c. water
• salt

Combine in medium saucepan, and allow barley to simmer for at least an hour. You may need to add more water. Season with salt, to taste.

While the barley is cooking, combine:

• 2 T. plain greek yogurt
• 1 T. balsamic vinegar
• 2 T. sundried-tomato & pepita pesto
• 1 T. nutritional yeast
• salt & pepper, to taste
• splash almond milk (optional – I used a drizzle just to thin)

Set aside.

The rest:

• kale
• 1/2 of one carrot
• 1/4 c. chopped red pepper
• 1/2 of one zucchini, chopped
• 2 roma tomatoes, chopped
• 1 large clove garlic, pressed
• drizzle olive oil
• 1 can tuna
• 1/4 c. shredded almond mozzarella

Putting it all together:

1. In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil and garlic. Add to it the veggies, a splash of water, and cover until kale is wilted.
2. Add to this the tuna and combine, followed by the cooked barley.
3. Once mixed thoroughly, stir in the pesto sauce and then the almond mozzarella until all is combined. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Waffle With Me

Has everyone seen or heard the new Dunkin’ Donuts commercials advertising their waffle sandwich? I swear I hear it every ten minutes – but tt makes me laugh every time. Why? Because, well…I waffle on a daily basis. I even use the term waffle. So when I heard waffle all over the radio I felt a little cheated. Here is a days worth of waffles for you.

Fortunately, this mornings breakfast was almost waffle free due to this cool chica’s mention of carrot cake ice cream. I read this comment at 1 am during my nightly “I need to stop drinking so much water” moment – and immediately realized it’s been far too long since I’ve had carrot cake oats. You’d better believe I had difficulties falling asleep when I could hardly wait for morning. Just the thought made me have a nightly rendezvous with the kitchen involving nuked puffins. Luckily, morning finally came.

I love you, carrot cake oats. And this bowl was especially stellar, for what reason I am unsure. Possibly because this was the first time I’d had it with oat bran? Possibly. It was much fluffier than usual. Or maybe I just forgot how fluffy bananas make oats?

I suppose one of my breakfast waffles occurred just moments ago, trying to narrow down my breakfast photos. Apparently, I went a little overboard this morning. I was enamored.

In the Mix was oat bran, spelt flakes, barley & wheat bran, brewed coffee & almondmilk, ~1/4 sliced banana, vanilla, goji berries, pineapple, 1/2 carrot, grated, ground clove, nutmeg, ginger, and cinnamon

On the Top was chia-acai icing, flax, crystallized ginger, a chopped walnut or two, strawberry-pom jam, coconut butter, and 1/2 grated carrot sauteed with maple syrup, coconut, raisins, pineapple, cinnamon, and a splash of water.

The waffle appeared when it was time to chose coffee. I think my problem is that I give myself too many choices. So many nut butters, so many jams, so many veggies, so many fruits, so many breads. Hey, variety is the spice of life, right? As long as I’m not wasting anything, I’m content.

Rain Forest Nut eventually won over, and I waffled about what I wanted to make for my birthday dinner while enjoying a cup of that and my cake. I love waking up early.

Next waffle: hurr. I’ve been having major hair dilemmas. I really need to cut it. But I don’t like paying someone $20 to take half an inch off my hair. That can be spent on fun food finds or new bowls, you know.

the usual, except usually I pouf it more. It's growing old.

reunited with my hair straightener: still pouffed on top.

the new? or too susie home-maker?

After all this waffling, it was time to pack the lunch-age and head to class. First, I waffled as to what I wanted for my drive in snackage. The rest of the nanner had apparently been eaten by a Henry-monster, so banana was out of the question. English muffin, or nuked Puffins?

puffins-1. english muffin-0

If you haven’t done this yet, you should do it now. 1/2c. original puffins, 1/4 c. almondmilk, drizzle honey-apple butter, and cinnamon. Nuke for 30 seconds. Enjoy. Yum.

Next up? Yogi Moroccan Spice – for the words of wisdom – or Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride – for the pure bliss?

sugar cookie sleigh ride - with almondmilk, vanilla, and honey.

I have a rapidly growing honey obsession.

Driving in to class I encountered a major waffle. Did I really want to waste this beautiful morning by going to class? I won’t say which waffle I toasted, but I will say sometimes…ya just gotta appreciate the beauty around you.

And right on time, hunger came knocking, and I gladly answered. There was no waffling here:

Rite Aid parking lot.

Nature valley Nut Clusters – I make sure I ration these out, or I’ll just nom down the whole bag. So good. These were the peanut ones. I’m tempted to try making something similar myself.

I just realized I ate a lot in my car today.

And sesame rice crisps. Fueling before my second class & a quick Rite Aid pit-stop. This was a good snack – the clusters held me over quite nicely!

After my second class I participated in a grueling workout that involved a pretty drastic makeover. Are you ready for this?

Gertrude. Don't think she stayed that clean for more than ten minutes.

This messed up my hair, made me freeze, and made me more than ready for lunch.

There was slight waffling involved in lunch: I was homeless! My mom was MIA and I didn’t feel like eating by myself at a random location on campus. Everyone has classes when I don’t, and vice versa 😦 I finally decided on just going to the welcome center because I was going to need to buy some hot water or coffee, anyways. I wanted to go to the lake lookout – but didn’t think I’d have time to do that and get tea/coffee.

lunch was packed last night, as usual.

Turkey Meatball pita-panini w/ ranch, dijonnaise, sundried tomatoes, red pepper, red onion, spinach, and a pickle. Oh and parmesan, of course!

And I'll never turn down a naranja.

Deee-vine. Loved the homemade ranch-dijonnaise combo. And the pickle. Oh, dill pickles. You make sandwiches complete.

Did I want a bar, too?

I ended up passing – I was quite content – but decided to take Clif with me, for his whole grains and vitamins – to my Photo class. I definitely made everyone jealous. If you’ve had a Blueberry Z Bar before, you know how deliciously blueberry – y they smell!

I munched half in class, and half driving home so I didn’t eat the kitchen once I got there. There was much waffling about exposures, negatives, and chemicals while in photo – but I won’t bore you. There was also much stress/frustration. Everyone kept asking me all these questions about what to do, how to do it, what to mix, etc. I get really stressed out when I’m asked too many questions about stuff like that when I’m trying to do it, too. I’m trying to get stuff done, too – and I probably only know as much as you! I know that sounds awful, but it’s just part of me. I could never be a teacher. The worse part is – I’ll even get frustrated if it’s even people I know really well.

I had already had a general idea for dinner planned, but I waffled the entire way home as to specifics. I’ll reveal the final product, first.

Bulgur-Chickpea Casserole

Did I want chickpeas, turkey meatballs, or shrimp? Chickpeas. Did I want sweets-meets-savory by including an apple? No. But next time for sure! Did I want to make it all neat and layered only for it to be messed up upon serving, anyway? Sure.

Classic Jess fashion.

Did I want to use nutritional yeast, feta, or parmesan in the veggie layer? Nutritional yeast. Parm on Top!

This was good! Chickpeas were the right waffle. Next time I’d love to try it with some chopped apple and sweet potato!

Dessert was waffle free:

you betcha!

Told you so: new obsession/old obsession meet.

I guess you could say I tend to get stuck in food ruts. I’ve actually been flipping through Clean Eating mags at breakfast and re-discovering some great recipes that I saw and wanted to try – but didn’t make note of…and completely forgot! I’ve been feeling rather uncreative, so these are definitely helping and I’m brewing some good ideas. I still openly admit to finding one snack and latching on to it, however. Oh, well, I guess.

I hope everyone toasted lots of waffles today – decisions are good! Do you like to have decisions, or have things laid out for you? When you do have decisions – are you indecisive, or black and white?

Do you pack your own snacks when you know you’ll be out and about, or just hope you’ll find something?

And lastly – do you tend to get stuck in “food ruts” ever?

I hope everyone has a great night – just think, tomorrow’s friday already!

I Eat the Color Spectrum

…forget about just the rainbow!

So, I definitely called in to work today. There was SO much snow, and it was still coming down like crazy. That and, all the forecasts were saying it was only going to get worse. So even once I got there, coming home would really be miserable. Luckily, I have bosses that are pretty understanding, and especially this time of year, when there isn’t so much work in the lab.

I pretty much figured it would be this way when I went to bed last night, so the decision was easy to make this morning, too. If I didn’t have such a long commute to and from work it wouldn’t be such a big deal – but I already drive an hour each way – gives a lot of places for me to wind up in a ditch!

For some reason, I didn’t have much of an appetite when I woke up – which is quite rare for me! Usually I’m raring to eat 🙂 So since I had extra time I just brewed some Golden French Toast and surfed some blogs for a bit, leaning towards a yogurt mess. I then all of a sudden had a quick change of heart and was suddenly ravenous for my usual – and the plums that I’d been complaining about being under-ripe were now begging to be used. So that settled that!

In the Mix: Rolled Barley Flakes, TVP, brewed coffee/almondmilk, goji berries, half a plum, vanilla extract

On the Top: “caramelized” plum with shredded coconut, Naturally Nutty White Choco Coconut PB, flax, icing, dates

In the Icing: greek yogurt, almondmilk, acai, chia seeds, vanilla

Whilst observing the great outdoors:

With Kaia, of course!

I seldom eat my breakfast in the living room – too distracting! I like to sit and enjoy my meals at the table. Eating breakfast while blog-surfing totally reminded me why I do that, too – it took me eons to eat! I was still able to enjoy every bite, though 🙂

Do you multi-task while you eat, or pay 100% attention to your food? I used to eat my breakfasts while surfing the web, snacks while watching TV, etc. Now I pretty much eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner with no distractions, unless I’m slowly flipping through the free-press or something. I realize I am able to enjoy what I’ve made so much more!

Afterwards, it was play and shovel time! And let me tell you – that is some heavy, wet snow that we got. My arms got quite the workout, and I am definitely grateful that we have a snowblower so I only had to shovel the decks and portions of the walkway.

I started to make a biiiiig snowball, all the while Kaia watched me quite intently- then decided to take some pictures…when I came back, she was in the process of demolishing it!

I pretty much knew while I was shoveling that enough was falling, and going to continue to fall, for me to only be back out there in a couple hours – but I enjoyed running around with Kaia, and also knew it’d be much easier to shovel a couple inches in another hour, rather than 12″ all at once!

After my fingertips became numb, it was time for a warm-up.

Hint? Leave your breakfast dishes for after the shoveling. Your frozen hands will appreciate it!

Because what’s a snowstorm without hot cocoa and funky colored marshmallows? They were definitely essential 🙂

We also made it back inside in time for Rachel! Rachel Ray, that is. And yes – when I say we, I mean Kaia and I. She watched it too. She even took the good couch. About halfway through my mom and Henry came home from work, too – school closed! They both work at the college. We’re on break right now so it’s kind of weird that they closed anyway, but I don;t think they complained.

Foraging the day resumed, while I hopelessly tried to find television shows worth watching:

Lifewater & a baked apple with pumpkin and maple sizzurp.

I can’t help it. I love raw carrots. It’s hard for me to be making something in the kitchen without eating one. Seriously: I nom away on a carrot while making my lunch, making my dinner, baking, you name it. I better have 50/50 eyesight when I’m 80.

This is another used foods store item that I was beyond excited to find. There was a slight spark of hope that they would also have the elusive sugar cookie sleigh ride since they also had their Candy Cane Lane tea, which is another of their seasonals. But – no dice. Le sigh – Gingerbread is good enough for me, I suppose.

And boy, was it. I don’t think I’ve had an herbal tea this good. A lot of times I find the flavors to be too mild and muted – not with this! It is pure gingerbread, through and through. No “well, I kind of taste gingerbread…” which is what I love. May need to pick up some more 🙂 I can only imagine how good the sugar cookie tea is!

A short while later I decided it was time to go play again!

Are you all tired of Kaia photos yet? Sorry – should have been a forewarning that this post would be photo-heavy! We came back inside eventually, though, and I put together another amazing lunch – not to sound conceited or anything! haha. Seriously, though – don’t know how I live with eating away from home. Lunch is my favorite meal to be able to make and enjoy at home.

In the Wrap: country garlic dijon mustard, baby spinach, fried egg, sliced roma tomato, fresh basil, salt & pepper, and almond mozzarella.

With a side of sea salt and cracked black pepper kale chips, and two random slices of orange that was sitting on the cutting board. I’m thinking it had something to do with my mom’s knack of leaving just a small amount of anything.

Ohhh, so perfect.

I was pretty much useless today – but it was quite nice! Even though I have Tuesdays and Thursdays off anyway, it was neat having an additional day off to really take advantage of not having to do anything. Even my days off I do something – chores, clean, bake, shop, meet up with someone, run errands, etc. And the snow made it so much more enjoyable 🙂

At some point I also had another version of my “banana-pumpkin bread pudding” concoction of yesterday – but it was far from photogenic, and I’m sparing you the photo.

For dinner, I still had that craving from yesterday for a biiiig salad with a bunch of veggies and a veggie burger. Here is where I eat the color spectrum!

Not sure why I was craving this so much, haha. It actually ended up reminding me why I make so much of my own food, even though pre-made versions can be purchased. I can so make a better veggie burger than Boca. Sorry.

Regardless, it did end up hitting the spot. Does anyone else ever get cravings for food you know isn’t necessarily delicious – but for some reaosn you just want it? Yeah, I think that was me with this meal. I know frozen garden burgers aren’t anything to write home about – but for some reason I just couldn’t shake the craving!

This was a mix of baby spinach and butter lettuce, red onion, red pepper, Boca Garden Burger, sweet corn, and a toasted “garlic bread” pita.

I also whipped up some zesty homemade ranch dressing. I love making that ranch dressing! It’s based off of Clean Eating’s recipe – but I just add all the seasonings until I’ve got it where I want it. This time I added in some mesquite BBQ sauce, too.

Didja notice the natural light?! Yeah, I ate an hour and a half earlier than usual – but it’s also staying light out sooo much longer. Love it!

I’ve been dying to try the frozen banana soft-serve that I’ve seen frequently – just process a frozen banana – and decided to try it tonight, too. Unfortunately, I had to use my blender – so my results weren’t so successful. But hey, I still had a banana + greek yogurt + dates + coconut + maple sizzurp. So it’s not like it can be bad.

Even if I was too lazy to change my white balance settings.

And that, my loves, is all she wrote.

Do you ever buy pre-made food – like veggie burgers, baked goods, sandwiches, etc -even when you know you can just make it yourself at home? If so, what? (not basic things like bread)

–I don’t often, but even when I do I ask myself why I’m wasting money on it when I can do it myself and do it better! Granted, they are good to have on hand for when I come home and just want to eat.

Alternatively, what’s your favorite pre-made food to have on hand?

–I admit the veggie burgers would be easy if I was in a rush or the craving hit and I didn’t have time to make my own.

Quirky

Happy Monday, bloggies! Usually I’m of the belief that saying happy Monday is a joke – I mean really, who wants Monday? But today was definitely a happy Monday for me, and I hope for everyone else, too! I think it definitely had to do with the beautiful sunshine and warmth that mother nature gave us before she hits us with a couple killer storms for the rest of the week. Either that, or this…

Yeah – now that I think about it, it’s probably both 🙂

In the Mix: equal parts TVP and Rolled Barley Flakes, brewed coffee & almondmilk, goji berries, nutmeg, couple slices banana, almond extract, 1/3 kiwi

On the Top: Last of the Chia Seed Icing with Pineapple, flax, rest of the kiwi, toasted coconut, plum jam, and white choco coconut pb

I seriously love the rolled barley flakes. They seem so much fluffier than normal oats! And – I had my kiwi skin on! It’s not as weird as I was, for some reason, expecting it to be. Just like the skin of an apple or peach, really. And Karla is right – it’s a lot easier to not bother with the peeling. Kiwi’s are a pain to skin!

There were a few times today where I was thinking about how quirky humans can be – especially myself! I’ve already discussed how I like to mix all my food together – yet I get really disappointed if I accidentally mix in the peanut butter. I like saving it for the last couple bites so I can really taste it 🙂 When p.b. is as delicious as this is, you really need to enjoy it!

So, remember how photo-heavy yesterday’s post was? Uh, well, I guess I was unknowingly making up for today. I was running a bit late for work so just packed everything as I grabbed it. And go-figure: I actually mixed up my snacks a bit! I packed: an orange, a carrot, blueberry-salmon pita panini, kale to cook up some kale chips with, crispbreads, pretzels, and hummus. And tons of tea to leave at work! I’ve started drinking way too much coffee during the day at work just because I want a warm beverage. So, this is to remedy that.

Lunch was delicious, regardless of the fact that it took forever to eat because my boss kept trying to have a convo with me/talk at me about the hockey game last night. Another quirk? I hate being the only one eating when people are talking/looking at me because a. I tend to make a sloppy mess when I eat, and b. I feel rude having eye contact with my food, and not the speaker. It wouldn’t have been weird if we all have the same lunch and we were all talking while eating, but we don’t. haha.

After being highly edumacated about hockey, I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and take a walk to get a coffee. (not being hypocritical – I did stick to tea all morning. lol) the quirk here? we have copious amounts of k-cups at work for free. the other quirk? after I got back from that short little jaunt, I was in the best of moods, regardless of the fact that I had also been faced with a telephone call from a crazy customer thinking we were magically going to make her black and white photo a color photo. I spent a good twenty minutes trying to explain that no, her photo was never color in the first place – and so no, our reproduction wouldn’t be, either.

Did I mention I stunk up the whole absement when I burnt all my kale making kale chips? Yeah, did that today, too. I tried eating them, but they just tasted like really old broccoli. Yeck. Next time I’ll remember that just because ten minutes at 350* works in a huge oven, it probably won’t work in a much tinier toaster oven.

Anywho, the work day absolutely flew by and before I knew it I was headed home, secretly enjoying listening to really bad pop songs, with some really good oldies and really random rap songs thrown in. Does anyone else ever find themselves listening to the radio, thinking “Ugh, I hate this song.” and completely forget that you can easily change the station? Um, guilty. I do the same thing when it gets static-y. I even do the same thing when I’m listening to my iPod. I swear I’m not loco.

(completely.)

We all also know my quirky love for anything involving a panini maker.

That includes making food that has the looks that only a mother could love.

This, my friends, is a delicious honey-lime cumin chicken panini wrap. Failure at wrapping, complete success on the eating and tasting.

You know what else I do? Eat things people normally eat with their hands, with a fork and knife. In retrospect, I’ll sometimes eat things you’d typically use a fork with, with my hands. Hey, I never claimed to always be civilized. We’ll just call it food entusiasm. This wrap was eaten with fork and knife and fingers. You’re weird, Jess. And you all probably picture me as a pig eating now. I promise it’s not that bad!

In the Wrap: Chicken seasoned with garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, honey and zest & juice of half a lime.

Gettin’ all snugly with almond mozzarella, spinach, roma tomato slices, red onion, and dill pickle.

Served with a side of kale chips (note that they’re not burnt.) and an awesome dipping sauce made of: spoonful plain greek yogurt, zest & juice of half a lime, dollop of dijonnaise, salt, and pepper.

The yogurt sauce was really good with the kale chips dipped in it, too 🙂

I’m totally loving the fresh flavors I’ve been using lately – lime, lemon, basil, etc. This meal was really refreshing, too! I think I’ll be going back to my old ways and using them moreso than the mexican-esque flavors I used much of the winter. For some reason, I find them to be more satisfying, too. Maybe because after eating spicy food I just want sometihng more to cool my mouth down? haha.

If you make this – which, you should – enlighten me, please, as to how to successfully press it so that one end it still open…and just one end is folded…without pressing your hand in the panini maker, too. I was at a loss, and I’ve been having a lot of close encounters with that press lately. For some reason, I’m thinking my food wears the grill marks better than my hand would.

About to go have myself a crazy mixed up applesauce and yogurt mess because I’m quirky. And looking forward to tomorrow! I’ve got a lunch date with an old friend from the barn whom I haven’t caught up with in ages. Should be fun – and hopefully we’ll be getting snow rather than rain! It’s kind of warm for it to stay as snow at the moment

What are some of your quirks? I have so many more random things that I do – sometimes I think they’re weird, sometimes I wonder if it’s actually normal but nobody admits to it 😛 I love quirks, though! And it’s a funny word…

Hopefully I haven’t scared you all off after this post – I’m telling you, those extra UV rays are making me into a bubbly chatterbox!